Assessing whether an electronic monitoring program is right for you

Article:
Assessing whether an electronic monitoring program is right for your agency is one of the initial steps in developing an electronic monitoring program. While needs vary from agency to agency, the following criteria are a good place to start when deciding whether your agency and community could benefit from electronic supervision.

What type of offenders does your jurisdiction typically handle? What is their general demographic? Electronic monitoring supervision can be adapted to a wide variety of offenders, but it is not for everyone.

Does the jurisdiction have overcrowding problems in its prison or jail? Are there offenders or individuals accused of crimes who are awaiting their trial dates who could be placed under electronic monitoring to alleviate this problem?

Are there offenders already under community supervision who could benefit from stricter supervision?

Does your agency have enough resources to manage an electronic monitoring program, including personnel?

Will your agency be able to adequately respond to violations made

While these answers should be based on factual data you should also, during an assessment, gather opinions, such as:

How will the greater community respond to such a program? If there are concerns, what will need to be done to alleviate them?

How will the offenders’ victims feel about such a program? Would they welcome it?

By combining factual data and opinions you can make a more educated approach to determining whether an electronic monitoring program is a good fit for your agency. Read more about assessing needs for your electronic monitoring program here.

BI Incorporated provides a host of electronic monitoring technology—including GPS monitoring, radio-frequency monitoring, alcohol monitoring and voice verification—depending on an agency’s needs. Read more about our electronic monitoring technology and the functions available in each monitoring device here.